WEEKEND BOMBING: 140 Feared Dead, Attack 'Mastermind' Arrested
Maiduguri twin bombing
Although the exact number of victims of Boko Haram weekend attacks in Borno State is yet to be confirmed, various news agencies provide the death toll in the range from 90 to more than 140. In connection with the twin explosions in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, military arrested a suspect, believed to be the attack 'mastermind' and 30 more people. The detained man was found last night allegedly with eight guns hidden in his pick up van in Maiduguri.
According to the Red Cross official, 51 bodies have been already recovered and many more victims are buried in the rubble in Maiduguri.
However, an eyewitness on Maidiguri attack said: "As I am talking to you now, we have counted 70 corpses. Even then, some have been taken to hospital, dead or injured. We probably have at least 100 dead."
The bloody explosion in the state capital was followed by another blast in village Mainok, 60 km away from
Maiduguri, in which at least 39 people died, as stated by one of the village residents Yahaya Umar.
Additional information yesterday on the Maiduguri blast indicated that some buildings collapsed, while others were set aflame with smoke billowing for hours.
Leader of anti-terror vigilante group said that the first explosion in the state capital came from a pickup truck carrying firewood and did not cause many casualties. Many people rushed to the scene in order to help the victims, when the second blast came from a passenger car.
The Associated Press reporter said he had seen a body burnt beyond recognition at a hospital where wailing families were collecting bodies for immediate burial in the Muslim tradition.
It would be recalled that more than 300 people were killed in extremist attacks last month in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, among them pupils of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi.
Meanwile Maiduguri has suffered two attacks in the past six months: a January 14 bomb that killed about 40 people and a bold assault December 5 on the Air Force base and an army barracks on the outskirts in which all five aircraft on the runway were destroyed.
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